SAN ANTONIO--A Gulf of Mexico storm rapidly intensified on Thursday spinning into the potentially biggest hurricane to hit the mainland United States in 12 years and taking aim at the heart of nation's oil refining industry.
Hurricane Harvey is forecast to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday, packing winds of up to 125 miles per hour (201 km per hour). The storm could bring a surge in sea levels as high as 12 feet (3.7 meters) and dump up to 35 inches (97 cm) of rain over parts of Texas. Flood warnings are also in effect for northern Mexico and Louisiana.
The threat has triggered evacuations and canceled the first day of school in communities along the south Texas coast, which is home to 5.8 million people from Corpus Christi to Galveston.
Energy companies shut coastal refineries, pulled workers from Gulf of Mexico offshore oil platforms and halted onshore drilling in south Texas on Thursday. Just under 10 percent of offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude output capacity and nearly 15 percent of natural gas production was halted by midday, government data showed.
Harvey is forecast to come ashore as a Category 3 hurricane, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, the third most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which would make it the first major hurricane to hit the mainland United States since Hurricane Wilma struck Florida in 2005.
Louisiana and Texas issued disaster declarations, authorizing the use of state resources to prepare for the storm. The NHC expects Harvey to move slowly over Texas and linger over the state for days, dumping as much 35 inches (97 cm) of rain on some areas. Louisiana could see 10 to 15 inches of rain.
"With this system's intensity and slow motion, it is the worst of both worlds," said John Tharp, a forecaster with Weather Decision Technologies in Norman, Oklahoma. "There will be major impacts along the coast and inland with periods of prolonged rain."
Harvey will bring rains and a storm surge that will bring "life-threatening and devastating flooding" to parts of the Texas coast, the NHC said in an advisory.
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the storm and stands ready to provide resources if needed, the White House said on Thursday.
